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Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
The Rights and Wrongs of "Crimes and Misdemeanors"
The story centers around two main characters, Clifford Stern and Dr. Judah Rosenthal. Both Men have a major conflict happening within their lives causing them unhappiness. The whole plot is centered on the judgments and actions these two men go through in order to make their lives happier. For Clifford, his conflict lies with his disintegrating marriage and his new found love for his co-worker. For Dr. Rosenthal, he has conflict arise when the woman he had an affair with shows up again begging for his attention and threatens the happiness of his life and family not to mention his reputation. The events that unfold throughout the rest of the movie escalates quickly causing feelings of guilt, excitement, and even murder.
According to the famous philosopher John Stuart Mill, these two men were following their pursuit of happiness they were both ultimately living a utilitarian lifestyle. Both men were only out to make themselves happy, whether this is a duty to themselves or a law of nature can be argued by another famous philosopher, Immanuel Kant. The deeds and actions that these two men performed would, in Kant's case, make them immoral people, but not so much in Mill's case. Mill believes that it is wrong to kill someone no matter what the circumstance. He focuses largely on the happiness of as many people, a net gain of happiness, as possible something he calls the "Greatest Happiness Principle." This principle states that actions are right if they cause a greater amount of happiness (pleasure and the absence of pain), and wrong if it causes pain and no pleasure. Was Judah's decision morally right? According to Mill it would be. By killing his mistress, Dolores, he created the most amount of pleasure not only for himself but for his whole family. His family became happier and closer, and a net gain of happiness is seen. Mill's utilitarian view is based on consequence, and for Judah, he didn't have any bad consequences from his action, so he was able to live a happy life. However, from Kant's perspective, Judah's action was wrong because he lied to his family and friends. From Kant's perspective, it is not based on consequence. His theory has to do with the categorical imperative. It basically states that someone should not act in a way that they would not want to become a universal law. In Judah's case as well as Clifford, both men lied and committed crimes of murder and adultery. They would not want these to become universal laws. These two actions therefore are not moral.
L'enfant sauvage (1970)
The Philosophy of The Wild Child
In this short film, we are shown the progression of a child who has lived eleven to twelve years of his life in isolation from mankind with no education and no one to take care of him but himself. He is captured and sent to Paris to be studied by Dr. Itard who feels he could educate the young boy. The doctor is interested in learning how the mind works and develops from having no interaction or education whatsoever. Throughout the movie, the boy, given the name Victor, is shown many different techniques and skills that he has missed growing up, and he is taught memory skills as well as a few letters of the alphabet. Eventually coming to terms with his new situation, Victor starts to accept the lessons from Dr. Itard, and becomes comfortable with his new living arrangement. After so many years spent alone, he begins to make great progress.
This movie is an excellent example of Thomas Hobbes' idea of the State of Nature. This is described in his Leviathan as a way to preserve one's self. He states that the State of Nature is also a State of War. One individual lives his life in order to maintain his life whether he has to undergo competition or even war with other individuals. In Victor's case, he had to learn to survive in the wild completely alone. He never had to communicate with people in order to maintain his life, so his communication skills were not developed. He often had to fight off enemies or other animals/human beings who he thought were going to cause him harm. The multitude of scars the Doctor discovered is proof of his many competitions within the wild, and the fact that he bit many of the people who tried to help him. In this state Victor was in, there was no justice for him. Everything was a competition and a means to survive, but when he was taken out of that habitat and placed into society, the rules and laws governed how he was treated. He was ultimately kept safe by a sovereign being that placed him in the care of the doctor, and he was taught the difference between justice and injustice as well as what was right and wrong. He learned many things that were good and many things that were bad. According to Hobbes, the laws determine limits, Victor was able to be educated and controlled.
Antigoni (1961)
The Ethical Dilemmas in Antigone
The movie, Antigone is based on Sophocles' tragic play. It follows the play's plot perfectly, and does a great job showing the emotional responses of the characters. There is great turmoil within the city after Oedipus left because of exile. His two sons, Polynices and Eteocles are fighting with one another because Polynices raised an army to fight against Thebes. They ended up killing one another leaving Oedipus' two daughters, Antigone and Ismene. Creon was named king after Oedipus left, and he decided that a proper burial should happen for Eteocles, the brother that died as a hero defending his city. As for Polynices, King Creon decided that he was not worthy of a proper burial, and his body must be left unburied for the animals and scavengers. When Antigone heard his edict, she was shocked and upset that King Creon was not going to give both brothers a burial. She plotted against him and decided she would bury him herself. She goes to her sister Ismene for support in her decision, but Ismene wanted no part in Antigone's plan. When the people of Thebes discovered who buried Polynices' body, they were shocked. King Creon sentenced Antigone to death for disobeying his law even though she was engaged to his son, Haemon. He told his people that the laws are the laws and no one is exempt from them, not even his family. The plot quickly turns tragic when Antigone hangs herself in the cave she was sealed in. When Haemon finds her, he is so stricken with grief and anger that he lashes out at his father and ends up killing himself.
With this story, there are two major ethical dilemmas that the characters are faced with. Antigone's dilemma deals with her religion and belief that the Gods command all bodies to be buried, and they will cause unhappiness within the city and her family if these commands are not followed. She is also trying to grieve for her lost brother in the best way that she knows how, being a dedicated and honoring sister by burying his body. Antigone was handed a hard circumstance in which she had to choose between the honor and loyalty of her Gods and Family or choose to obey the King. King Creon's dilemma is the fact that his soon to be daughter-in-law disobeyed him, and he has to treat her like a regular citizen in order to maintain the respect he has from the citizens of Thebes. If she was pardoned from the law, other people would start to use that as an excuse to stop following the laws and orders of the King. These two dilemmas are in direct relation to Plato's idea of justice and what is right and wrong. According to Plato's accounts of Socrates' dialogues in Crito and Apology, justice is never doing wrong or causing harm to anyone. In this movie, Antigone felt that it was an injustice to her family and her brother to not bury his body, and it was wrong and unjust in the eyes of the Gods. As Euthyphro would say, it was an impiety to the Gods to leave his body unburied.